What matters in a restaurant? Certainly the food. The service. The atmosphere. The value.

But the thing that matters most in a restaurant is something much greater than the sum of these individual parts.

When customers, me included, make decisions about where to go out for dinner, naturally we consider the food. It has to be good. Preferably exemplary. But when we make a decision about whether to go back to a restaurant a second time, a fourth time, a 20th time, we consider much more.

We consider how we are received. We consider whether a restaurant meets our expectations — not just on the plate, but in the place. We consider comfort, in the seats and in the spirit. We consider hospitality — it should be pervasive, from the moment we enter to the moment we exit. We consider the dollars we'll spend.

Rioja's patio beckons al fresco diners.

(THE DENVER POST | CYRUS MCCRIMMON)

Most of all, we consider this (perhaps without articulating it exactly): Did my experience at this restaurant enrich my life?

We want the time and money we spend in restaurants to generate pleasant memories, to offer us a real, tangible, human connection to our neighborhood, our community, our city.

The 10 restaurants here do just that.

They may or may not have the very best foie gras appetizer, or the very best cheesecake, or the most seamless service. Many of the city's most talented chefs and restaurateurs aren't represented here. Many of the city's most cherished restaurants also aren't named. But this is good news. It means that Denver's well of culinary talent is deep and diverse, as good as it's ever been.

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These are Denver's most important restaurants right now, in February 2010. Some are new, bringing fresh perspectives; some are stalwarts whose initial ambitions are finally being fully realized. Each reflects, and enriches, this moment in Denver's culinary and cultural life. Each deserves a visit. Today. Photos by CYRUS MCCRIMMON

The counter at Bones, set for the daily lunchtime crush.

(The Denver Post | CYRUS MCCRIMMON)

Olivea: Directing Denver's palate

Call it post-Spanish cuisine. Olivea's Eastern Mediterranean menu, if rooted in Spain, also bends toward France, Italy, Portugal, Morocco and Tunisia, fusing flavors, textures and compositions under the knowledgeable guidance of chef John Broening. Intellectual and artistic, Broening (also a contributor to the Post) does more than express his craftsmanship through his food — he writes prose with it, using a fluid culinary vocabulary that blends high ideas with deeply pleasing flavors. A delicate but sturdy lamb sausage on one plate, a paper cone of fried chickpeas on the next, Broening's signature duck meatballs on another. As the floor staff of this 10-month old venture catches up to the high bar set in the kitchen, Broening and stunningly gifted pastry chef Yasmin Lozada-Hissom — Denver's most instinctual and effective dessertmaker — are writing a blueprint for Denver's palate in the new decade. 719 E. 17th Ave., 303-861-5050

Rioja: Star power on Larimer Square

Rioja, when it debuted with an emphatic splash in 2005, served the kind of elevated Spanish cuisine that was not yet the ubiquitous subcategory it is now. Early customers responded with rapturous enthusiasm, but the kitchen eventually found itself mired in a swamp of confusing, dithyrambic dishes, sending a staticky message of forced, over-conceived gourmandise. But chef Jennifer Jasinski's dogged persistence and unyielding willingness to refine, improve and perfect her goods have led to a well-acknowledged and legitimately earned prestige.

Her revived sense of clarity and her growing confidence in her own cooking have produced splendid results, including a plate of slow-braised Colorado short ribs atop gorgonzola-laced farro, and a best-in-show lamb dish in which a lamb T-bone and pastry-wrapped couscous flank a redolently spicy sausage patty. Jasinski is a star, the kind of chef who makes people want to go out to dinner — and not only at her restaurant. She, and Rioja, are good for all of us. 1431 Larimer St., 303-820-2282

Super Star Asian: Dim sum's center of gravity

The dim sum scene in the Denver area gets better by the year; last year's opening of Heaven Star in Broomfield is an especially welcome addition. But there's a certain as-yet unmatched magic at Super Star Asian, which is a supremely well-managed operation that serves its community of fans —from a wide swath of cultures, generations and neighborhoods —with a mighty sense of purpose. The speedy kitchen's metier: producing fresh, flavorful dim sum dishes, in very large quantities, and loading them into carts that rove the dining room like bumper cars. Weekend brunchtime can be a crush, but it's also when the carts hold their widest variety of treats. Don't miss: spare ribs, pork buns, and spicy chicken feet, punctuated with five- spice and jalapeño. 2200 W. Alameda Ave., 303-727-9889

Fruition: Sowing plans for the future

You have only to inspect the exquisite hand- formed pastas or immaculately cooked lamb loin on your plate to know that there is no more careful, consistent, precise cook in Denver than Fruition's Alex Seidel. After five years working for Frank Bonnano at the now-legendary Mizuna, Seidel hung out the Fruition shingle in 2007, promising (and delivering) elevated American comfort food to a rapt Capitol Hill audience. His first menu's chicken soup, with its exacting vegetable cuts bobbing alongside delicate trofie pasta in a beautifully balanced country-city broth, still rates as one of the best dishes of the decade. The star of the current menu is a salad of frisee, crispy root vegetables, cured cherries, and prosciutto in a hazelnut vinaigrette. Seidel's plans for 2010 include growing as much of the restaurant's food as possible on his own 10-acre patch of Colorado, but what will most continue to keep Fruition vital to its growing roster of regular customers is the intelligent, generous management of the dining room, where Paul Attardi (also a Mizuna alum) runs the show. 1313 E. Sixth Ave., 303-831-1962

Root Down: Solving the omnivore's dilemna

It's been a bumpy first year for Root Down. Owner Justin Cucci, after outfitting the place with a reclaimed floor and constructing an herb garden on the roof, opened his doors in the deepest depths of the down economy. He faced down personnel challenges in the kitchen and raucous criticism from frustrated, early customers. But he's stuck true to his vision: A youthful urban restaurant that serves carnivores, omnivores, vegetarians and vegans, shortchanging none of them. The menu runs from a soulful red-miso and barley soup, to a refreshing winter salad of braised endive, grapefruit and gorgonzola, to a pork-on-pork dish of a grilled chop with braised leeks and bacon. As the kitchen reduces its misfires and open tables become scarcer, it seems that Cucci's bet — that a restaurant catering equally to a range of personal eating policies could succeed — is paying off. Watch for the Root Down effect (more and better vegetable-based options) to bleed onto other menus as the new decade progresses. 1600 West 33rd Ave., 303-993-4200

Bones: Daring, focused, confident

Many restaurants try to put roasted bone marrow on their menus, but Bones, a Capitol Hill noodle shop which opened at the tail end of 2008, actually manages to sell it. In quantity. How? By exuding an uncanny confidence, a fierce determination and a hard-edged clarity of purpose. Frank Bonanno, the brains behind the venture, wasn't willing to let Denver sit out the international craze for high-end noodle shops, and whether by design, persistence or blind fortune, his team has knocked this version out of the proverbial park. Their lobster ramen noodle bowl and steamed pork belly buns have woven themselves seamlessly into Denver's culinary consciousness. Bonanno, a deeply committed cook who surrounds himself with deeply skilled talent, stakes more than just his money and his time on his ventures — he puts his back, and his heart, into every project. When it works, as at Bones, the victory isn't just his — it's ours. 701 Grant St., 303-860-2929

Lola: Making — and keeping — a scene

A restaurant, like an actor, can bristle with obvious talent and charisma, but only an indescribable (and ineluctable) X-factor can give either lasting relevance. LoLa's X-factor, already strong when it opened in 2002, has only increased. The current LoHi location (LoLa's second — the restaurant decamped Platt Park in 2005) and the citywide crowd each bring a certain soul, but LoLa rates as much for its food as its scene. For that, credit goes first to founding chef Jamey Fader, among Denver's cleverest, and most respected, cooks. Fader's since taken an executive role with the Big Red F restaurant group (Duane Walker now helms the LoLa kitchen), but his clear focus on seaside Veracruzano cuisine still anchors the menu — even as it flirts with a broader swath of Mexico. A dish of lamb albondigas with yam ancho chili gravy shares room on the menu with Mexican bay scallop cakes and huachinango — red snapper, fried whole. What's constant, after eight years of booming business, is LoLa's refreshing, visceral energy. 1575 Boulder St., 720-570-8686

Chipotle: Denver goes global

Chipotle, since opening its first shop in South Denver in 1994, has transformed the lunchtime landscape not just in its hometown, but worldwide — more than 900 restaurants are already serving stateside (and 120 more are on deck for this year), and the chain's first European location, in London, is scheduled to open in April. But somehow, as big as the concept has grown, Chipotle is still, unequivocally, ours. It belongs to Denver. Here's why it works: The pork carnitas is unassailably good (Steve Ells, the CEO, is also a chef), the menu is small, and the fully visible production line leaves no mystery as to what's in your lunch. Long regarded (and lauded) for groundbreaking food-procurement policies (the company's efforts to obtain local, organic and/or sustainable ingredients are well documented), Chipotle has come under recent criticism from labor groups over tomato-harvest practices. The dispute remains unsettled, but Chipotle's fans remain committed. And the carnitas remains excellent. Multiple locations

The Squeaky Bean: The upside of downsizing

It took Max Mackissock several stints in well-appointed, well-financed kitchens before he found his most authentic culinary voice — in a tiny kitchen outfitted with little more than, in his words, "a $500 electric oven and a couple of panini presses." But when Mackissock and partner Johnny Ballen threw wisdom to the wind and threw open the doors of The Squeaky Bean last May, magic struck. Mackissock, hemmed in by sub-par equipment rather than corporate restraints, translated necessity into invention and began creating some of Denver's most invigorating dishes. Leaping off the menu now is an earthy, urbane appetizer of roasted, pickled and raw mushrooms, punctuated with tangy goat cheese. And the herbaceous tuna conserva sandwich, open-faced on brioche and studded with savory capers, remains Denver's most diverting lunch. But what's made The Squeaky Bean an immediately essential fixture in its Highland neighborhood is this: Doors are open all day — three meals. Talk about being committed to a community. 3301 Tejon St., 303-284-0053

Table 6: A brash young bistro grows up

Quietly but steadily, Table 6 has evolved over its half-decade in business from brass-bound upstart to relaxed veteran, winning itself an emphatically loyal fan base. Here's how: The food is consistently good, and the homey-but- stylish brand of hospitality sends the message that these folks are happy to see you — even at peak weekend hours when there's a lineup for a table. The gloriously short menu (never more than six or seven entrees to choose from) inspires confidence in the kitchen, and the culinary team led by Scott Parker is clearly invested in their work. Evidence is on the carefully assembled plates: a supple fillet of barramundi over lemony mashed potatoes is accompanied by a tumble of woodsy mushrooms agro-dolce (sour-sweet), a dish of soft sweet potato dumplings is swished with hazlenut cream and embedded with arugula. But what sets Table 6 in a special class is the fluid wine list, which is meticulously managed, relatively affordable, and at once accessible and provocative. Take a chance here — thanks to general manager Aaron Forman, that label you don't recognize is likely one you'll want to try. Best way to do Table 6: Come early and linger over your supper while the dining room fills up. 609 Corona St., 303-831-8800

Lockheed says object part of 'sensor technology' testing that ended ThursdayWhat the heck is that thing? It's fair to assume that question was on the minds of many people who traveled along Colo. 128 south of Boulder this week if they happened to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a large, silver projectile perched alongside the highway and pointed north toward town.

PARIS (AP) — Bye, New York! Ciao, Milan! Bonjour, Paris! The world's largest traveling circus of fashion editors, models, buyers and journalists has descended on the French capital, clutching their metro maps and city guides, to cap the ready-to-wear fashion season. Full Story